We, the mayors, city managers, planners and representatives
of city and local authorities, participating in the regional seminar on
Feeding Asian Cities organized by the Regional Network of Local
Authorities for the Management of Human Settlements (CityNet), the Association
of Food Marketing Agencies in Asia and the Pacific (AFMA) and the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), held on 27 to 30 November
2000 in Bangkok, Thailand

recognise that:

access to healthy and nutritious food will be an increasingly important
issue in Asian cities as they continue to rapidly urbanize and increase in
population, especially to address the needs of the urban poor;

City and local authorities (CLAs) can play a key role in enhancing access
to food especially in the context of continuing urbanization and decentralization;

take advantage of forthcoming international conferences such as Istanbul
+5 and Rio +10[3] to promote integration of
FSD issues into national and local plans of action;

expand the mandates, functions and responsibilities of CLAs to more effectively
perform their role in enhancing food security;

establish and strengthen information sharing, exchange and dissemination
mechanisms on urban food security, using information technology where possible
and ensuring that such information reaches Asian CLAs;

rationalize institutional arrangements between levels as well as sectors
in local governments in order to achieve more effective coordination of food-related
policies and programmes;

foster partnerships between government, the business sector and civil society
organizations to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of FSD;

seek access for Asian CLAs to technical assistance and financial support
in order to enhance their ability to effectively address the issues of urban
food insecurity;

develop, intensify and broaden the exchange and dissemination of information,
knowledge and experience among CLAs, regional and international networks and
external support agencies, academic and research institutes and other partners;

promote stronger and more meaningful North-South and South-South cooperation
for accessing knowledge, capacity building services, technology and financing
based on equality and mutual benefit; and

prepare an action plan to achieve the goals and objectives of this declaration.

[3] Istanbul +5, is a follow-up to the UNCHS Habitat
II forum, which took place in Istanbul in 1996. It is scheduled for June 2001
in New York City. Rio +10 refers to the World Summit on Sustainable Development
that will take place in September 2002 (Johannesburg), ten years after the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development, which took place in Rio de
Janeiro in 1992.